Lately....

Happy February!!! Crazy that it's February right!? And the END of February for that fact! The Mr.'s birthday is coming up at the end of the week already! Life is going well in the Big D; contrary to the pictures below, we've had a touch of Spring this past week which makes me CRAZY for some sunshine and warm weather! Although we haven't had near a brutal winter as other parts of the country, it has still been a tough one. I like it just cold enough to warrant a fire, but let's face it, at the end of the day, I'm from Mississippi.

A few weeks ago we did get a legitimate snow flurry (as opposed to ice storm) and Manny and I had ourselves a good ole time. He loved the fluffy snow!

Valentine's has come and gone as well and we had a good one. We spent that day and the following at the Linger Conference at our church which was filled with amazing speakers and worship leaders about how to "linger/abide" with God constantly.  (A concept that blows our human "to-do-list-loving" minds!) It was an incredible conference!  We squeezed in some Shipley's donuts for Valentine's breakfast and ate homemade strawberry cake when we got back at night.

This cake has been a monkey on my back for years. About 7 years ago, when J and I were dating, I decided I would make him this cake which has been perfected by my mom and grandmother for years. (I should have realized a loooong time that good cooking is NOT genetic.) I went to a mixin' and bakin' and ran out of a couple [key] ingredients but decided it wouldn't make a big difference to substitute them with something else. Another false concept. The layers of the cake were literally sliding off one another and the icing wouldn't even stick! It looked like the cake on Sleeping Beauty that the Fairy Godmothers tried to make!!!  Remember this?

J has messed with me for so long about my failed attempt that I was always scared to try it again. But, hey.....the boy married me now, so what's he gonna do? Plus...my cooking skills have come a LOOOONG way since 2007 when my one hit wonder was a corn casserole. The cake turned out delish and J's words were "one of the best strawberry cakes I've ever had." That's right! Boom!

Another noteable accomplishment this month has been my pantry renovation. I'm almost embarrassed to post the before picture, but I'm trying to be authentic here. Our pantry is long and narrow, so everything is just right there in front of you. Thirty-One came out with some great organizing bins, so I took advantage and got to work......

BEFORE:

AFTER:

All I have to say about this AMEN. SISTER. I don't GROAN when I open this thing up anymore!  

Well, that's about all for now. Hope everyone is having a wonderful February!  

JUANuary...The Bachelor Review

Okay people...I literally started a list of disclaimers to defend myself on watching The Bachelor. But at the end of the day....if you are a Twilight or Hunger Games fan or pretty much watch ANY show on any major network right now, you can't judge me. I watch this show purely for entertainment. (Jeremie has already earmarked this show as one our children will NOT watch.) But boy is it entertaining....here are my thoughts on this week....

• If I were on this show.....and you asked me to go jump off a bridge....I would politely say no thank you. I am  A LOT of things, and the fact that I won't jump off a bridge doesn't make me any less of a fun person.  Jeremie and I are living proof that most couples have one person that is jumping off the bridge and the other who holds the video camera, slaps the other on the rear and says, "Good luck, baby, Love you!" 
• Soccer group date: Yet another date that would make me look like an idiot. I do agree everyone wants to marry someone who is a "good sport", but last time I tried to involved myself with an athletic activity, I ended up with a black eye. I would probably ask where the nacho stand is and PEACE.OUT.
• I love the way Juan Pablo said pajamas this episode....Pee-Yamas.
• In regards to girls coming downstairs to JP cooking breakfast...they all looked WAY too cute in their "pee-yamas"....Jeremie is always AMAZED at how messy I can make my hair after being still for 7 hours...and however hard I try, my "pee-yamas" never match....and not in a cute way....
• Proof that the some contestants are planted for entertainment: the "Free Sprirt" that was barefoot the first episode carried out her red-soled Christian Louboutins when she got eliminated this week....
• "Free-Spirit is also obviously in incredible shape, so I'm thinking there's a gym membership somewhere, and last time I checked, hostels did not offer those.....
• The Opera singer...oh so much to say about her...mainly I feel like she is boring and awkward. But I also got tickled that someone who probably sings songs in many languages acted like she was having a hard time with some of the Spanish words JP was trying to teach her. Of course we all know that men love to "teach" a girl something...but there's a difference from playing dumb.
• I also get so tickled that the 27 year old blonde talks about "what a baby" another 24 year old blonde is and they totally miss the fact that JP is falling for the 21 YEAR OLD? Personally, I met Jeremie when I was 20, knew I wanted to marry him 8 weeks later and married him at 24. I think everyone matures at different ages, so it's hard to gauge what people are ready for by just a number. And let me just say.....you're NEVER mature enough for marriage....I still throw 8 year old hissy fits over totally useless things sometimes. And I'm sure J thinks: OMG, who did I marry???
• The private concerts are KILLING me.....half the time I have NO idea who the artist is, so I'd probably embarrass myself and have to ask one of the producers so I could act excited. 
• At the end of the day, if we were all videoed during our courtships, we'd ALL be embarrassed to no end.  Here's to another season of fun!

Christmas Fun Part II

Oh goodness.....Christmas seems like it is a million miles away now....even though I just dragged our lighted Snowman out of the front yard this week.....#he'llbebackagainsomeday

We were so excited to host one of our favorite events this year, The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. Dallas actually has a Ugly Christmas Sweater STORE, but I did my own thrifting and found some pretty ugly ones myself. (Now to Ebay they go!)  Our small group from church got in the spirit too; we had so much fun!  

Jeremie has a "Go big or go home" attitude about any type of dress up parties. He didn't limit himself to an ugly sweater. He also sported a blue bow tie, snowflake suspenders, and green corduroy pants. He won the contest hands down! Apparently, people didn't think my sweater with Christmas puppies was tacky enough. Because everybody has a sweater with Christmas puppies on it..... 

Stephen, in the red, came in second place. This was the 80's style sweatshirt, with so much going on on 1 piece of fabric. An ice rink, a covered bridge, horses, a barn, carolers, it really "told a story".....

Sweet Chelsea (on the left) sported Christmas cows and Erin had light up earrings and necklace in the shape of Christmas bulbs.....

We added an element this year, which was "Re-gifting" and it was hilarious. The purpose was to find something in your house that is ugly or that you don't want anymore. (In our friend Joe's eyes, it was just to randomly grab whatever was on the kitchen counter, which were very nice items...his wife was not too happy.....)  Anyway, we had some great gifts show up like John Wayne movies and a Shake weight. (Shown above.) I found a REAL mounted squirrel head with a cowboy hat and red handkerchief around its neck at Goodwill for 99 cents. It was a hot item and got stolen many times. I also pulled a fast one on Jeremie, which I wish I would've videoed now.  If you've read my blog before, you know how I despise dislike the styrofoam snowman head topper that was a gift to us years ago. Erin even commented that my tree was so elegant, but that the topper was "interesting".  Jeremie LOVES Frosty, and loves even more that I don't like him. But he adorns the tree every year, and every year I joke that he might just get lost one day. So I decided to include Frosty in the re-gifting portion of the party to see how Jeremie would react. While Erin distracted J in the kitchen, (Chelsea, my daring and taller friend) swiped Frosty off the tree and I wrapped him up and put it with the rest of the gifts. J had no idea! Erin purposefully unwrapped Frosty herself and I saw J look at it curiously, then look at the tree, then snap his head back to me and give me the UGLIEST look I have seen from my husband!!! He seriously thought I was trying to give Frosty away.  After a good laugh, I assured him he was just a part of a good set-up. Took him a few minutes to calm down....I loved it!  

Before we head to Mississippi for the holidays, we usually like to open our family gifts, and the best part is watching Manny with his new little "friends"....

After heading to MS, everything after that is a blur!!! Every year, I'm so sad that I barely get ANY pictures of us with our families during Christmas, but by the time you eat, open gifts, and put on your stretchy pants, it's over! We had a great time at our traditional breakfast at J's grandparents', lunch at my parents' and then off to visit my grandparents. We are SO thankful that our families all live within 30 minutes of each other so we can see them all on Christmas Day! 

This is the only Christmas Day action picture that I got, and I think it's pretty funny....

As most dads do, they have their daughters wrap the gifts for the wives...my dad made a note on the bottom of this gift that proudly says: "I tied the bow myself"........love it!

The day after Christmas I hit the road for Alabama to visit BFF and new mama Mary Perry and Baby Emmaline...this was the first time to see that sweet thing, and boy was she sweet!!!  

We were just missing our Auntie Meg!

The Fourth Muskeeter!!! A new generation!

Back in MS, we squeezed in a wedding (what's a trip to MS without a wedding?) Jeremie's cousin, Madison was a gorgeous bride.  The reception was a J's parent's house, so I had to tapped into my Miss Hospitality roots and served punch and cut cake!

We were pretty tired by the time we got back to The Big D. New Year's was spent here at the house (with great food of course) and we were in bed by 12:30. I always watch the countdown and see people partying on FB and think "Should we be all dressed up doing something crazy?"...and then I think back to 2010 when we did just that and wished we were at home in our pj's. Ha! So I took another sip of my hot chocolate, kissed my hubby and didn't give it another thought! 

Happy New Year! And before we know it, it'll be February!

Christmas Fun Part I

Whew!!!  I'd better get this Christmas post done before it is mid-January!!! I imagine that needs to be one of my New Year's resolutions! Christmas season was so fun this year! I finally got to decorate the house this year, so it kinda felt like our first real Christmas in this house! Here's how everything looked at The Wells:

Oh I just love it! Now, if you wonder why that tacky snowman head is atop my elegant tree, you can read about it here. Bryan Lowe, just know that this is the gift that keeps on giving. 

Now is this a Texas Christmas pillow or what?

The mouse was my favorite ornament as a child....I named him "Mr. Mouse" (I never claimed to be creative) and I loved when he showed up every year!

This is our MSU theme tree that my mom made for me when I was in college, so it holds a lot of memories! I add a MSU ornament to it every year!

And one of my favorite parts of Christmas season is the cards! I love seeing everyone's little families!

Our own Christmas picture turned out pretty good. Don't let the calmness fool you. Manny hates taking pictures almost as much as Jeremie.  This shot took a good 7 tries.

Perhaps it's because I couldn't this one to quit fooling around.....

The ice storm sorta messed up my "lineup" of Christmas activities to attend, but we still managed to squeeze in some festivities.  One weekend, we headed downtown and stayed at the very historic and very snazzy Adolphus hotel. It was beautiful and we spent most of our time sitting around the lobby eating dessert, drinking hot chocolate, and listening to the grand piano.....big timers.

While downtown, we went on a trolley ride (J and I just can't pass up a good trolley ride), ate at Twisted Root Burger (oh dear, it's amazing) and just rode around looking at the lights.  So fun!

Look closely...this tree was actually made of car parts! 

We also went to an exhibit called the Chinese Lantern Festival. It was all these fabric lanterns in several different scenes!!!  It was beautiful!!!

On the way back to the 'burbs, we stopped in an area of town called The Bishop Arts District and had brunch at Tillman's Roadhouse.  If you live in Dallas-you must go here!!! It was delicious! After a stop at an antique store (what's a trip without an antique store?) we headed back home. It was a fun way to kick off our holiday! Stay tuned for Christmas Part 2!

Twenty Thirteen

I CANNOT believe that it is the last day of 2013!!! I don't think this one flew by as fast as last year, but still crazy that we are entering yet another year. In no particular order, here some memorable things about 2013:

• After much prayer, tears, and frustration, the infamous Vertigo finally let go! 
• On the bright side, this gave me an excuse to watch all 3 seasons of Downton Abbey in essentially one sitting.
• We also watched all seasons of "24" in their entirety. Not sure how proud I am though that we watched 8 years of TV in 9 months. The curse of Netflix. 
• LOTS of friends  and family had a baby. I would never try to name each one for fear of leaving someone out. But you know who you are; I love all of you and your babies! 
• Jeremie and I finally went to Wyoming; something we've been talking about since we were in college. It was fantastic and I am in love with that place! 
• Ladies Football Camp. I think I blogged about this here. But I am still talking about it and Jeremie just rolls his eyes.
• I really enjoyed decorating the house. This DOES NOT include painting the 77 spindles on the staircase, which almost made me lose my religion.
• We joined a small group through our church and fortunately these people are as crazy as we are. (And if they read this, they will not get offended, only laugh.)  
• I took a 16 day trip to MS and even though this included fantastic reunions with family and friends, I will never stay away that long again.
• Texas continues to be Texas. At Bible study the other day I heard a lady say "Ohh, yes, GOLD is the best neutral!"  I also had a lady at Stein Mart tell me that a sweater made my hips look big when I asked her opinion.
• This year I finished a study in Genesis and began Matthew. Absolutely incredible what God can do through His Word.
• When I asked J what came to mind when he thought of 2013, he said "Home".....Dallas now feels like home.  That made me smile!
• I noticed today that some people posted that 2013 was the best year of their lives and then I know others who are going through unspeakable tragedy right now. That really makes me think. Ecclesiastes 3.
• HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope yours is safe, fun and joyful.

It's The Holiday Season....

Yes, the title of this post is a jingle and as I typed it I was singing it in my head.  So the holidays came early for the Wells this year.  Since I was sick as a dog through the holidays last year, I felt like I deserved to commence the festivities early.  Judge if you like, but my decorations went up around November 19th.  So Jeremie walked in from work one day and stockings were hung and Christmas music was playing on Pandora and he said "Ok, so it's Christmas." I was no less into Thanksgiving, but really more thankful that I was healthy enough to indeed put up decorations.

We did hold a full Thanksgiving feast thro' down. We had full intention of going to MS, attending the Egg Bowl and visiting family, but at the last minute (like LAST minute; bags were at the door), we decided not to go.  (Jeremie has a HUGE project launching this week and the thought of over 22 hours of driving over 4 days was too much.) So though no one can out do J's moms pound cake, my mom's dressing, or my Grammy's rolls, we gave it our best shot. J smoked a turkey and we had all the traditional sides like cornbread dressing, butter beans, corn casserole, mac 'n cheese, and my favorite....the rolls.  Oh, and pecan pie..duh. We actually had a great time cooking and even better time eating.  And homegirl always loves a reason to use the china.

     

And yes, I ate my dinner in my MSU jersey....because...the The Battle for the Golden Egg was held that evening and I was very thankful it ended up in the right hands.....Hail State!

In true Bulldawg form, it didn't come easy.....the game ended in overtime, which I hate. I spent most of it literally standing on the couch. BUT, we scored and in the final play ended like this. And it is being re-lived in many Bulldog homes....just Google "Wallacing"......

My favorite "Wallacing" was this:

In this case, I am thankful for whoever posted this clever Elf on a Shelf rendition......

Jeremie and I did not participate in the violent Black Friday shopping, but we did split up and go to our favorites....for him that was Cabela's and for me it was The Gap. And Stein Mart. (Where I asked a lady's opinion about how a sweater looked on me she told me it made my hips look bigger than they were. I love an honest Texas woman.)

Over the rest of the weekend, we picked up our Christmas tree, watched lots of football and National Lampoon Christmas vacation, which officially commences the Christmas season.

This weekend certainly felt like the North Pole as Storm "Cleon" has come through. (How do they come up with these names?)  Texans get totally nervous when it even rains here, so an ice storm warranted a state of emergency.  Grocery stores were out of bread, eggs, and other basics! Glad I went early.  It really has been a crazy storm! Everything is iced over....it looks like snow, but it's pure ice, so don't plop and try to make an angel, because you'll bust your head open. Luckily, J has kept a fire going and we never lost power. Manny seemed to love the stuff.

I am happy to use this time to hang in my pj's and wrap gifts!  Tis the Season!

And in my best Bing Crosby voice.......I am singing "Happy Holidays"..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJi-8ulYevU

WHOOP! Our Weekend in Aggieland

A couple weeks ago, we traveled to College Station, AKA Aggieland, to watch the Dawgs get beat compete against the Aggies. (Surprisingly, the margin was much less than I expected.) Nevertheless, it was nothing less than a fantastic time. Even though we lost and stayed in a half-star hotel, no fear, the hubs and I know how to make the best of our situation.

College Station is about 3 hours from here and we rolled into town about 10:00 on Friday night. We tapped into our former college energy and attended the "Midnight Yell" at their football stadium, which is a long time A&M tradition. This was essentially a pep rally with 30,000 in attendance. There were performances of very organized chants and cheers directed by the Yell Leaders (they do not have girl cheerleaders), and they even broke out into the swaying that you see on TV.....I was minding my own and next thing I knew an Aggie grabbed me, so J and I swayed like the best of them. After the class president (tearfully) read a poem about St. Peter opening the gates of heaven to all Aggies entering, we decided that A&M is a cult.

Then next day we started out any football Saturday as it should be---with Shipley donuts. We headed to campus and cheered for the MSU buses as they pulled in, walked around campus, and ate at the Alumni tent.  It's always neat to see another school's game day atmosphere. It was quite impressive because of the sheer size of the crowds, but I'm still partial to The Junction.  : )

They did actually have horses in the middle of one of their drill fields!  And I almost stepped in a pile with my darling Steve Madden boots.

The stadium atmosphere was fantastic.  Great crowd that stays on their feet most of the game!!!

The A&M band was absolutely amazing.  They have a huge band of Cadets that did the true marching band formations that were incredible.  Jeremie and I sometimes pick on The Famous Maroon Band because they play Lady Gaga songs and rarely wear their full garb, with the feather hats and such.  So as the Aggies were doing a most impressive "four way cross", J leaned to the MSU fan next to him and said "Dang, that would be one big pile up if that were our band"....I noticed the guy didn't really say anything and realized we were likely sitting in the MSU family section, since we were also given tickets by MSU.  I about died and told J not to make any more opinionated comments to strangers. (Lord, I hope the kicker's mom wasn't around us.)

The Dawgs actually gave the Aggies a run for their money, so we didn't have to walk out with our tail tucked between our legs. Afterwards, we tried to complete the College Station experience by eating in the young and happenin' Northgate area, but it was too crowded, loud, and let's admit, our college days are over. We ended up a quiet Italian restaurant with a old man duo playing a clarinet & guitar. #whathavewebecome

On the way back, we stopped by this AMAZING bakery (recommended by many Texans) called the "Czech Stop".  For those of you familiar with the Brooksville bakery, it was very similar. We loaded up on yummy treats, sausage rolls, and yes......."Czech Mix".  J made jokes for an hour...."Czech, please", "Czech this out",  "Better Czech yo-self"......oh, dear.......

I look forward to going back for future events! A&M's traditions and school spirit is unparalleled! Loved our road trip and seeing new places in Texas! Can't wait for the next one!